{"id":158438,"date":"2022-05-03T15:48:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-04T01:48:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=158438"},"modified":"2024-03-14T23:17:25","modified_gmt":"2024-03-15T09:17:25","slug":"hawaiian-studies-students-at-un-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2022\/05\/03\/hawaiian-studies-students-at-un-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawaiian studies students urge U.N. to investigate Red Hill leaks, Indigenous rights"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"Group
The UNPFII<\/abbr> 2022 Kamakak\u016bokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies Delegation holds a Hae Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> (Hawaiian flag) in NYC<\/abbr><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Haum\u0101na (students) from Â鶹´«Ã½nuiākea<\/span> School of Hawaiian Knowledge<\/a> (HSHK<\/abbr>) at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at M\u0101noa attending an international forum at the United Nations headquarters in New York City through May 6, are calling on global leaders to take a deeper look into the highly controversial Red Hill fuel leaks that tainted Honolulu\u2019s groundwater aquifer.<\/p>\n

Lilikal\u0101 Kameʻeleihiwa<\/span><\/strong>, a professor at HSHK<\/abbr> Kamakak\u016bokalani Center for Hawaiian Studies<\/a> (KCHS<\/abbr>), escorted five haum\u0101na to the Big Apple for the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII<\/abbr>) beginning in late April. The two-week forum is the central coordinating body for matters relating to the concerns and rights of the world’s Indigenous peoples. <\/p>\n

“I bring NH<\/abbr> (Native Hawaiian) KCHS<\/abbr> students to the UNPFII<\/abbr> because if we Hawaiians really want our country back, as do I, then we need to learn the international arena of governments,” Kameʻeleihiwa<\/span> explained.<\/p>\n

MA<\/abbr> student Makanalani Malia Gomes<\/strong> and her classmates participated in the Indigenous Youth caucus at UNPFII<\/abbr>. Gomes turned heads at UNPFII<\/abbr> when she spoke out about the leaking of 14,000 gallons of fuel at a Red Hill facility on her home island and compromised access to clean drinking water.<\/p>\n

“At the time when delivering the intervention, I was fully present and wanted to simply be a vessel for these lifeways and waterways,” Gomes explained.<\/p>\n

\"Group
Students advocate for issues impacting Native Hawaiians across the pae ʻ\u0101ina (archipelago).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Our intention was always to honor water as an autonomous being and ancestor. We (those from the team who helped to draft the statement) worked hard the days leading up to the day of the scheduled topic…we knew we wanted to bring up the issue of water, specifically at Kapukak\u012b or Red Hill, to this global platform to set a precedent for other issues related to water like Mauna Kea, but also water issues around the world because we know so many of our Indigenous family are facing similar issues.”<\/p>\n

Gomes joined KCHS<\/abbr> haum\u0101na Alyssa Purcell<\/strong>, Lahela Mattos<\/strong>, Joseph Awong<\/strong> and Kalani Simeona<\/strong> and Kealiʻi<\/span> Gora<\/strong>, an administrator at HSHK<\/abbr> for Pūkoʻa<\/span><\/a> and Kūaliʻi<\/span><\/a> Native Hawaiian Councils, who has attended events at the U.N. since 1993 and trains students to write interventions in the UNPFII<\/abbr> style.<\/p>\n

The UNPFII<\/abbr> was established in 2000 to address Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, environment, education, health and human rights.<\/p>\n

Kameʻeleihiwa<\/span> has brought haum\u0101na to UNPFII<\/abbr> for the last two decades, and the majority of those students have become leaders in the Native Hawaiian community, she said.<\/p>\n

“Attending the face-to-face (forum) for two weeks is like a crash course in these matters, and students make lifelong friends,” said Kameʻeleihiwa<\/span>. “They want to change the world and serve the L\u0101hui.”<\/p>\n

This year, UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa haum\u0101na crossed paths with Indigenous people from every continent on the planet except for Antarctica. Among a number of issues raised by attendees was the preservation of native languages around the world.<\/p>\n

On May 6, the forum\u2019s final day, Kameʻeleihiwa<\/span> and her students will conduct a virtual presentation showcasing a 9,000-page handwritten genealogy recovery project based on records found at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> State Archives. The online event will be held at 11:30 a.m. EDT<\/abbr> (5:30 a.m. HST<\/abbr>). (Register online<\/a>) or Facebook Live: @hshkuhm.<\/p>\n

This work is an example of UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of Becoming a Native Hawaiian Place of Learning<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), Enhancing Student Success<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>) and Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), three of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Five students participate in the annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[33,1500,551,881,1503,1465,9,1626],"class_list":["post-158438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-hawaiian","tag-hawaiian-studies","tag-hawaiinuiakea-school-of-hawaiian-knowledge","tag-human-rights","tag-kamakakuokalani-center-for-hawaiian-studies","tag-manoa-native-hawaiian-place-of-learning","tag-uh-manoa","tag-women-of-uh","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158438"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":158464,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158438\/revisions\/158464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}